


Ever Ever After

by bapaldeul, peachbunny



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Enchanted AU, M/M, Prince!Daniel, angst and fluff and crack we don't know either, guanlin is a chick, scriptwriter!jihoon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 21:36:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16879644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bapaldeul/pseuds/bapaldeul, https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachbunny/pseuds/peachbunny
Summary: Prince Daniel of House Kang only has one wish - to marry Prince Minhyun and get his happy ever after. So when he finds himself accidentally transported to the disenchanted world of modern-day Seoul on the day of his wedding, he needs the power of true love's kiss to get back.Meanwhile, Park Jihoon is a jaded scriptwriter who believes that perfect love stories for hopeless romantics are the stuff of fiction - but the very real Prince Daniel sleeping on his couch is threatening to make him believe in fairytales and love once again.





	Ever Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> hello, this is tori and chul! :D
> 
> sorry if this is a mess because it's our first time doing a collab with anyone but we still hope you like this fic that we worked on for nielwink month day 4 and leave a comment at the end if you liked it!

“Slow down, Prince Daniel!”

 

The little chick fastened firmly against Zhang’s saddle chirped, a small ball of yellow down fluff all ruffled by the wind. “It’s not like Prince Minhyun is headed anywhere!”

 

“How can I slow down, Guanlin,” Daniel panted, voice pitched high with excitement and exhilaration, digging his heels in and spurning the white stallion forward like the very wind behind them was hunting them down. “When I’m about to marry the love of my life before the sun sets on this perfect day?”

 

“Well, to be honest, your highness,” the chick piped up, thinking very _very_ hard on how to phrase things correctly in _human_ language and not hurt his prince’s feelings. “He’s only been the love of your life since...yesterday afternoon.”

 

“Yesterday,  the day before that, since the start of time, _does it matter_?” Daniel answered, hands tight on the reins as he maneuvers Zhang through brush and thicket and over fallen logs. “Time’s not really an issue when it’s true love, and I knew I loved him the moment I laid eyes on him.”

 

Daniel pulls on the reins abruptly, drawing Zhang to a quick halt; then another click of his tongue and they’re trotting across a rickety wooden bridge suspended over a rampaging river.

 

Guanlin’s little thumping heart was in his throat, but Prince Daniel was still smiling and laughing, unbothered.

 

“Imagine, the perfect prince to complete the love song I’ve been singing my whole life,” Daniel sighed, completely lost in the imaginings of a happily ever after once the bells have tolled as he rode past the bridge and back into thickets and low-branched trees. “Hwang Minhyun is kind, is beautiful, is brave; oh, Guanlin, I’m so excite-”

 

“BRANCH!” Guanlin squeaked, hoping to heaven that the blonde prince would make it to his own wedding in one piece.

 

Daniel ducks his blonde head in the nick of time, and Guanlin lets out a quick breath of air before sucking it back in. He knew leaving the nest wasn’t a good idea, especially not when he ended up as a companion to Prince Daniel - an exuberant youth with a physique sculpted by gods, whose radiant handsomeness was only rivaled by how completely, utterly, naive he was.  

 

Guanlin couldn’t blame him, and couldn’t even fault the childlike regard the prince had for the world - he had grown up mostly alone, locked up in a castle with a battalion of purring cats and half-blind, tripping kittens, waiting for that one day when his parents would marry him off to a neighboring prince to forge alliances.

 

So Prince Daniel had all the time in the world but only a little hidden enclave to discover what it had to offer - that even a small chick like Guanlin had seen more of it than he had. So when it was announced that Daniel was to be married off to Prince Minhyun of House Hwang, and after the two boys exchanged less than ten words over their betrothal dinner, Daniel was raring to be seated on his horse and gallop them all the way to Pledis Castle for the marriage ceremony.

 

So this is how Guanlin ended up fearing for his life, riding with a prince who was decked out in a white satin tunic adorned with fine lace and rhinestone, off-white trousers that tucked into gold-embellished riding boots, and the crimson red cape of House Kang draped over one shoulder and held in place with a solid gold chain. He was dressed for a _wedding_ , not a careless rush into the forest just because the royal carriage moved far too slow for his liking.

 

“How do you even know where to go, Prince?” Guanlin stuttered as Daniel swerved this way and that through the thick of trees.

 

“My heart calls out to the love of my life,” Daniel recited, head too far up in the clouds to listen to reason. “And where it is called, that’s where I go.”

 

Guanlin makes a mental note to smack the huge prince in the head when he grows up, just for that one line (among all the increasingly cheesy lines that the boy had spouted in the years they’ve known each other). Maybe in another world where Guanlin wasn’t a tiny chick, maybe in a world where he was over six feet tall, he could knock some sense into his prince.

 

 _But it’s not this world,_ Guanlin thinks as the prince brings them to another abrupt stop once again and Guanlin swears that next time, he’ll stick to the carriage - with or without Daniel.

 

“Prince Daniel, we should ask for directions,” Guanlin gently suggested, peeking his head out from his carrying basket. His small eyes widen at what lay ahead of them: a closed door in the middle of a salt flat.

 

It was as if the clouds and the sky melded into the reflection it cast on the shallow water, creating an otherworldly appearance - and punctuated by a lone door painted a light teal.

 

“Strange,” Daniel notes quietly, and Guanlin is surprised at the sudden turn of the prince’s expression. Even more surprising was the prince dismounting, and Guanlin lifts his head higher to call out.

 

“Highness,” Guanlin says, “I thought we were rushing to the wedding?”

 

As if he wasn’t hearing his small companion, Daniel toes the edge of the salt flat - the sky reflecting in the shallow water, and there’s a pull in his chest that was impossible to resist. He treads the water, creating larger ripples throughout and there’s almost a magical _twang_ when they reach the edges of the door.

 

It’s stupid, Daniel thinks, how one would leave a door and just a door in a place such as this.

 

It’s even more stupid that Daniel raises his knuckles to knock the moment he reaches the surface.

 

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

 

Daniel blinks and wills himself to pull away when the sound of knuckles to wood echoed in his ears - surely no one would answer. But he finds that he cannot - no, _he doesn’t want to_ \- pull away.

 

He watches his own hands reach for the silver knob and twist it. He vaguely hears Guanlin’s shrill tweeting and Zhang’s braying behind him, because one moment he’s stepping one foot in the door, and the next moment-

  
  


_He’s falling._

  


♛

 

_storybook endings, fairytales coming true_

_deep down inside we want to believe they still do_

  


EVER EVER AFTER  


 

♕

  
  


“Is he crazy?” is the first thing Daniel hears when he comes to, and the first thing he feels is a boot against his rib.

 

He groans and rolls over, feels the rough scratch of the ground beneath him and his eyes crack open to look up at a man who was studying him carefully.

 

He sees the man holding some sort of cane with fabric wrapped around it, some sort of folding contraption, and Daniel panics. His first thought is that he’s captured by the outlaws who lived in the forest and that his parents will have to pay a huge ransom - or worse, receive the dead body of their youngest son.

 

Daniel shouts and scrambles off, running into the middle of what seemed to be a busy road.

 

That’s when he notices that everything was _unordinary_ \- instead of clear skies, tall trees, and a caravan escort, he’s surrounded by towering structures made of a mix of glass and metal, there were strange lights everywhere, and everyone was dressed in a strange fashion.

 

“Watch it, asshole!” he hears someone scream behind him, and Daniel turns to see a group of metal carriages with black wheels and their angry riders all flashing him with bright lights. Daniel squints back at them, trying to make sense of what’s going on - and suddenly, their metal carriages release a cacophony of blaring sounds, honking loud, and Daniel runs off to where the other strange people stood to the sides.

 

The carriages zoom past the moment he makes his way to safety.

 

Daniel pants and looks around, and all these oddly-dressed strangers were avoiding his gaze - except for one particularly shabby man who didn’t seem to be focusing on his eyes.

 

“Hey, pretty boy,” the man slurs, and Daniel is thankful to find a wise old hermit in a place like this.

 

“Sir, thank goodness you’re here,” Daniel sighs in relief, a smile back on his face, and he starts hugging the old man. “I’m Prince Daniel of House Kang, and it seems I’ve stepped into this weird dimension...see, I was on my way to the wedding with Prince Minhyun, and my companion chick, Guanlin-”

 

“Wait, wait, hold up,” the old man trips over his words, enunciating them in a way that confused Daniel even more. “You’ve got a chick?”

 

“Yes, yes, I have a chick, and I’m pretty sure I got little Linlin all worried-” Daniel starts spouting an explanation, only to be met by an incredulous eyebrow raised from the large man.

 

“Of course this dude has a chick, what the hell,” the man threw his hand up, pushing past Daniel. “With a face and an ass like that how could he not? Meanwhile, there’s me, I’m still divorced and homeless old bastard...”

 

“Sir, there’s no need to say bad words,” Daniel gasped, calling after the old man and his hand automatically flying up to his mouth as if it would help censor anything the other man would say.  “And I do not have an ass, Guanlin is a chick!”

 

The man walked ahead of him in some sort of haphazard zigzag, and Daniel wonders if the man was a hermit who had gone mad.

 

Daniel looked around - the familiar smell of forest and the familiar sounds of babbling brooks replaced by huge monuments looking like they were enchanted out of glass to stand so high and the deafening sound of metal carriages lined up in an unmoving queue.

 

His heart was supposed to lead him to his one true love - to his wedding and his happily ever after - but somehow he ended up in this dimension that was so far removed from any semblance of a happy ending for anyone.

 

“Where’s my true love’s kiss when I need it,” Daniel mumbles to himself, looking around worriedly; hoping to find a door back home.

 

And then it rains.

 

Daniel blows out a breath as his perfectly-coiffed hair falls down against his forehead in a wet fringe and his white satin tunic started sticking to his skin.

 

_Of course._

 

♛

 

With his inexperienced and anxious hands on the steering wheel and Seongwoo yapping in his ear about Jihoon “always hearing but never really listening” to him, Jihoon knows he is just _milliseconds_ away from jamming on the break. That would probably be for the best. But he’s also not fond of the thought of dying before getting in the last word in this stupid argument.

 

How did they even get here, anyway? Let’s rewind.

 

It had been a pretty tiring but rewarding day on set. 14 straight hours of shooting was already a cause for disaster. However, the actors and actresses were in perfect condition, and their director - _The Ha Sungwoon_ , was in a good mood. That was already a win for everyone today. Jihoon was in a good mood, and so was Seongwoo, who had readily volunteered to drive Jihoon home, and talk along the way.

 

Naturally, Jihoon agreed after a short while of hesitating, not wanting to trouble Seongwoo to take another bus home after sending Jihoon home.

 

“Jihoon, we’re dating, _right_?” Seongwoo had held his hand in the dark corner of the set, making Jihoon feel guilt rise up in his chest all over again. He doesn’t want to push Seongwoo away.

 

He doesn’t know how it went south all so quickly, but he thinks it has something to do with Seongwoo casually bringing up the topic of resigning from his position of producer from their film to become something else. A photographer, or maybe even a poet - even he wasn’t sure just yet.

 

Naturally, Jihoon had flared up.

 

“You’re saying you want to give up? After how hard we’ve worked- after all the times you fought the directors to buy our ideas? When we finally get the money and opportunity, you want to quit?”

 

“I was just saying,” Seongwoo protested weakly at first, always on the receiving end of Jihoon’s nagging. “It would be nice to do something else, something that I know I have more interest in.”

 

It just doesn’t make sense to Jihoon - why would Seongwoo want to give up on something that they’ve both worked so hard for? They had cried together when their script had finally been given approval, making promises to make this film a success no matter what.

 

Maybe it also angers him in a way to see how Seongwoo can have so much passion in something he doesn’t have much of a future in. Ong Seongwoo, one of the well-known producers in their country wants to resign and become a photographer or poet? It sounds like wishful thinking to Jihoon, really.

 

He doesn’t say it out loud, but he has a feeling Seongwoo can tell.

 

“Forget it,” Seongwoo brushes Jihoon off after seeing how he’s against the whole idea. “I knew you wouldn’t be supportive, anyway.”

 

“I’m just looking out for you,” Jihoon says through clenched teeth, not in the mood to start a fight when he’s exhausted and all he really wants to do is go home and make himself a cup of hot chocolate and sleep for twelve hours straight.

 

“I don’t know if being a wet blanket about my passions is looking out for me,” Seongwoo snaps back, stopping at the next red light. He turns from the driver’s seat to face Jihoon, “But you know, suit yourself.”

 

Sarcasm. Jihoon hates it so much.

 

“You know what,” Seongwoo says, taking his hands off the steering wheel and unbuckling his seat belt. “You should drive. I’m not in the mood right now.”

 

Jihoon scoffs. It’s not even Seongwoo’s car. He tries to say something to stop the other boy from _overreacting_ but it’s too late - Seongwoo’s ass is already out of the car, making it a point to stare at Jihoon while he makes his way to Jihoon’s side. Jihoon just glares at Seongwoo, not wanting to lose. But he also doesn’t want to start a fight in the middle of the road.

 

Angrily, Jihoon pushes past Seongwoo and seats himself in the driver’s seat.

 

He’s fine. He’s totally not afraid of driving. He’d driven up to the set today just fine - no doubt he had some troubles with the parking. (Seriously, what is up with all these parallel parking car parks?). Somehow, being under the scrutiny of an experienced driver of Seongwoo makes Jihoon’s palms clammy.

 

It’s like driving school all over again. He still gets nightmares from all the tests he’s failed; and definitely not because he’s a terrible driver - Jihoon just doesn’t work at his best under pressure.

 

“Drive,” Seongwoo urges Jihoon with that annoyingly handsome and smug grin on his face as if he knows how much it scares him to be in the driver’s seat. Seongwoo pokes his chin towards the road in front, “The light is green. You _know_ that means go, right?”

 

“I know a lot of other things like how I could ruin your entire life and career in just a few words,” Jihoon sighs, but steps on the accelerator, relieved when the car actually does move forward like he intends for it to and in acceptable speed as well. See - he’s doing just fine with driving. Seongwoo can suck a-

 

_Bang!_

 

Jihoon stares into the cold, wide eyes of an elderly lady just _centimetres_ in front of the car. She clutches her handbag close to her frail frame, visibly shaking from the shock. For a moment, Jihoon is too stunned to do anything. Beside him, Seongwoo doesn’t move an inch.

 

Finally, the voice of reason between the both of them speaks.

 

“I don’t think we hit her,” Seongwoo says in a soft voice, as if he doesn’t even believe himself.

 

“Then who did we hit?” Jihoon still manages to reply through his thumping heart which honestly is blocking out every other sound in the car. The radio, his own heavy breathing, and the million and one not-so-nice thoughts running through his mind right now.

 

Without anymore words exchanged between the both of them, they unbuckle their seat belts and get out of the car.

 

Jihoon holds his breath as he approaches the figure lying on the road.

 

_Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead._

 

“Excuse me, are you a Prince, too?”

 

The figure on the road blinks back at Jihoon, and for a moment- Jihoon wants to scream happily because _thank God_ he isn’t dead. Only the person, or man, or man in a very strange costume thinks that Jihoon is a prince. Upon closer look, the details on the man’s costume is very intricate, from the golden boots to the deep red cloth that looks like a cape, but an _expensive_ cape around the man’s neck. Somehow, Jihoon has more questions about the man’s costume than his well being.

 

“Hey man, are you okay? Can you move? Wait, don’t move,” Seongwoo is the first to move in, kneeling down beside the man and waving two fingers in front of him. “Can you see how many fingers I’m holding up?”

 

“Oh, are you a knight? Have you seen a little chick around? He has yellow feathers and chirps all day, he shouldn’t be very hard to miss. Though he is tiny,” the man closes his eyes and Jihoon fears that he’s going to faint when the man opens them again in surprise, as if remembering something important, “Oh no! He’s probably lost somewhere - I must find Guanlin as soon as possible!”

 

And then, he does the _impossible_. He picks himself up from the road without much trouble and even has the mind to dust down his white suit. Well… except Jihoon wouldn’t exactly call it a suit.

 

“Jihoon - what the hell are you doing? Call an ambulance!” Seongwoo’s urgent voice interrupts Jihoon’s very obvious staring - more mesmerized at how the man has somehow managed to escape without even a scratch on his body.

 

Internal bleeding. _Oh no, that is so much worse._

 

“What’s an ambulance?” the man in the white suit looks at them quizzically, as if not understanding that Jihoon had just knocked him down. As if shaking the question off as quickly as it came to him, the man looks back at Jihoon with a smile on his face, “You look like a prince. Could you point me in the direction of the castle?”

 

“The castle?” Jihoon repeats after him slowly to make sure he’s gotten the name right. He’s not too familiar with this area. It could be the name of the building, a new bar, maybe a place where weird people in weird costumes gather. Really, anything is possible these days.

 

“Yes, the castle! I’m getting married to Prince Minhyun today and I fear I’m running a little late,” a frown takes over the previously bedazzling smile on the man’s face, now looking worried and a little lost. “And I lost my chick friend - Guanlin. He’s not going to be happy if he misses the wedding. After all, I am getting married to my One True Love.”

 

Seongwoo gives Jihoon a look.

 

He knows that look.

 

Jihoon has accidentally turned a man completely crazy.

 

♛

 

“What are you saying - we shouldn’t bring him to the hospital?” Jihoon whispers harshly under his breath to Seongwoo, who has both of his hands in his pockets, looking very unsure about this entire situation. And Jihoon understands.

 

Seongwoo looks at the man in the prettiest white suit sitting on the edge of the pavement, playing with a stray cat who snuggles up to him quite quickly, then back at Jihoon who feels like he’s going to faint anytime soon.

 

“He insisted he was fine when I offered him earlier, and the five times after the first time,” Seongwoo argues back, voice faltering, a clear indication he’s not even sure about his own decision as well.

 

“He is clearly not fine!” Jihoon hisses, a little too loud. It draws the man’s attention, and he quickly turns to look at Jihoon, who shoots him a reassuring smile. “He called _me_ a Prince, and then _you_ a Knight. He thinks he’s going to get married to some Disney prince at an imaginary castle and his imaginary chick friend is going to be there to officiate the wedding too!”

 

It sounds worse saying it out loud.

 

“My guess - he’s had a rough night. Maybe his girlfriend broke up with him; wasn’t on board with his fashion choices. He goes to the nearest bar and drinks himself silly,” Seongwoo explains it step by step to Jihoon, until it starts making sense.

 

Any story would appear more convincing than finding an actual castle in the middle of Seoul for two princes to get married at. He feels so bad for the man playing with - _wait what when did those three other cats turn up?_

 

“I’ll help this old lady with whatever our “ _Prince_ ” was helping her with,” Seongwoo instructs. “And maybe you can try to pry something - an address or a name out of this guy. Give him your contact number and then ask him to call you if anything else goes wrong.”

 

Seongwoo is right. The last thing he should do now is panic. He’s sure everything will return back to normal tomorrow morning - when the man finally gets a hold of himself.

 

“Okay,” Jihoon nods. “Thank you.”

 

Seongwoo’s stiff expression softens for the first time that night, and he holds out his hand to ruffle Jihoon’s hair gently.

 

“Call me when you get home okay, Jihoonie? I’ll take the bus back,” Seongwoo says. And Jihoon feels terrible for everything - their argument in the car, him accidentally knocking a man down and ruining their entire night. Before he can even open his mouth to say sorry, Seongwoo has already gone to take the old lady’s hand and lead her in a different direction.

 

Jihoon just trudges unwillingly to where the man is sitting. The last thing he needs right now is to deal with someone who is completely out of his mind.

 

“Her name is Ginger,” the man tells Jihoon. “She likes belly rubs.”

 

“And she told you that?” Jihoon crosses his arms.

 

The man nods, “She says that there is no castle here. Could I possibly be in the wrong place? But I’m sure the castle was here somewhere. Prince Minhyun is waiting for me…”

 

And then his voice drifts off into the distance. Jihoon feels his chest tighten for a moment at the dreamy look on the man’s face before telling himself, “Yup, he’s wasted.”

 

He kneels down to meet the man’s eye level.

 

“At least tell me your name,” Jihoon practically begs. He’s at his wit’s end with this strange man and his fantasies. “ _Anything_ \- except the fact that you can somehow understand cat language, or anything about princes, talking chicks, castles and weddings. I just need a name, please.”

 

The man’s smile is so bright, as if he’s exhilarated that someone is finally asking for his name, or paying any attention to what he is saying. He holds out his hand to Jihoon, and when Jihoon takes it hesitantly, he presses a soft kiss onto the top of his hand.

 

“Pleased to meet you. My name is Prince Kang Daniel.”

 

♛

 

Jihoon decides that the best thing he can do right now is bring Kang Daniel back home because he keeps insisting that his house is in a place called “Andalasia” - something even Google Maps can’t prove to Jihoon exists. He just comes to terms that all Kang Daniel needs is a place called “bed” and thankfully, Jihoon can provide just that.

 

“So, Prince Park Jihoon.”

 

“I told you, it’s _just_ Park Jihoon. No Prince, I’m not a Prince,” Jihoon insists for the nth time. “And please, put on your seatbelt. I don’t want to damage your brain any further.”

 

Kang Daniel just stares at Jihoon’s face, confused.

 

“But you look like a Prince! In Andalasia, you would most definitely be a Prince who would have suitors lining up outside your castle, waiting for you to find your one true love. Or…” Kang Daniel suddenly gasps, shocked, holding a hand to his mouth in disbelief.

 

“Are you a _King_?” his eyes widen. “If so, I deeply apologize for my ignorance!”

 

Jihoon slams his hands onto the steering wheel, visibly scaring Kang Daniel.

 

“I am not a Prince, nor a King. I’m nothing. I’m just a human, Park Jihoon, now please. Put on your seatbelt so I can drive.”

 

He just receives a blank look in return.

 

“What is a seatbelt?”

 

♛

 

After convincing the nutcase in his car that no one in the city uses horses as a form of transportation these days, they finally arrive outside Jihoon’s apartment. When Jihoon jingles the keys in his hands, the familiar sounds of barking come from behind his front door.

 

This is why Jihoon loves coming home every single day.

 

Suddenly, a loud swift sound of metal sound is heard. When Jihoon turns, he finds Kang Daniel holding a long sword in his hands.

 

“Stay behind me,” he instructs Jihoon, pushing Jihoon behind his back. “I will protect you from danger. Trust me, I am trained in swordsmanship and I believe there is a very dangerous creature behind this door. But _fear not_ , with me-”

 

“Where did you even get that sword!” Jihoon shrieks, grabbing the weapon away from Kang Daniel as quickly as he can and hiding it behind him. “Max is not dangerous! If you point this thing near him I swear I will hurt you - _bad_.”

 

Kang Daniel’s face falls, now powerless without his sword.

 

“Who is Max?”

 

Still holding the sword out of Kang Daniel’s reach, Jihoon unlocks his door cautiously, wary of any sudden movements from the so-called Prince. He’s not sure what other weapons Kang Daniel could be hiding under that huge suit of his.

 

When the door opens and Jihoon’s 2 month old schnauzer sprints out of the apartment, licking at his owner’s ankles until he realises that there is a new face - who is cowering in the corner. The puppy immediately races, barking wildly at the man who is approximately twenty times larger than it.

 

“Ah! It’s attacking me!” Kang Daniel screams, running with his golden boots into Jihoon’s apartment with Max chasing after him, happy that finally someone is willing to play with him. Jihoon never runs with Max, he just smothers him in hugs when he comes home.

 

Well, at least the nutcase is good for something.

 

He finds Kang Daniel on his sofa hiding behind a cushion that barely manages to cover his bent knees, while Max tries his best to jump and lick his face.

 

“Please, Prin- _Jihoon_ , save me,” he pleads with his own big, puppy eyes.

 

Finally, he takes pity on Kang Daniel and easily lifts Max off the couch.

 

“How can you be so afraid of a puppy? You were getting along just fine with the five cats back there,” Jihoon mutters under his breath. Unfortunately, the prince has supersonic hearing and defends himself, “Cats are not like… that. They are calm and nice. They don’t try to attack my face.”

 

Jihoon places a now calmer Max next to Daniel, who scooches to the end of the couch immediately, allowing Max to be the clear Alpha. Even with those broad shoulders, eye-catching suit and blonde hair, Kang Daniel is such a coward.

 

“Pet him,” Jihoon encourages. He doesn’t know why he is trying to get Max to become friends with this drunk man with amnesia. Maybe he’s just that owner who wants to show off how friendly his puppy is to everyone.

 

Kang Daniel holds out one arm hesitantly towards Max, who licks it happily.

 

“See,” Jihoon says softly, enjoying how Max jumps into Kang Daniel’s lap immediately, getting comfortable in a complete stranger’s embrace. He allows the two to get acquainted before remembering he has to get some extra blankets out for his guest.

 

He should probably call a clinic and bring this poor man there tomorrow. He probably has family, friends or a lover waiting for him to come home.

 

Without an address, Kang Daniel has nowhere to go.

 

Jihoon just sighs as he comes out of his room with pillows and blankets to keep the prince warm. He wonders if Kang Daniel will be able to fit into any of his shirts, giving his size and Jihoon’s. The important thing is for Kang Daniel to take a bath before-

 

And the disney prince is asleep on Jihoon’s couch, Max curled up in his arms.

 

Jihoon thinks twice about waking Kang Daniel, then his heart softens. For someone who has been saying crazy things the entire night, Daniel must have had quite the adventure. The thing that would do him best now is a good rest. Jihoon spreads the blankets and props a pillow under Daniel’s head - happy to know that he is a deep sleeper who only lightly stirs when Jihoon removes Max from his embrace.

 

As cute as it is, Jihoon doesn’t think he wants to see his puppy crushed by someone who cannot even remember where he comes from. They can talk about it in the morning. And maybe the Prince will regain his memory.

 

“Goodnight, Prince Kang Daniel,” Jihoon mutters under his breath before turning the lights out and carrying Max to their bedroom.

 

♛

  


While Jihoon mostly likes waking up to natural sunlight and not the alarm clock, today is different. Max is no longer in his bed where Jihoon swears he’d be first thing in the morning, licking his face and trying to pry Jihoon out of bed to give him his breakfast.

 

None of that happens. Also, there are barking noises coming from outside his door and Jihoon wonders if last night’s happenings were all but a crazy dream. He tries to recall - and most of it comes back pretty easily. The argument, him hitting a “Prince” with his car, and him taking the “Prince” into his home. He must have hit his really hard yesterday to dream up such an absurd situation.

 

“Max!” he calls out to his puppy who won’t stop yapping from the outside. He hopes his neighbours don’t mind. His bedroom door is left ajar, probably from Max scurrying out in the morning.

 

Max bounds to him, a frazzled look on his small face and jumps into Jihoon’s arms immediately; which is strange, since Max almost never lets himself get frightened by anything. (Though small, Jihoon didn’t raise his puppy to be a coward.)

 

The uneasy feeling in Jihoon’s stomach only grows when the sounds of scratching from the living room grows louder. He grabs the nearest weapon, which is unfortunately a mop, but it’ll have to do. What if there was a robber in his house-

 

“Meow.”

 

A black cat crosses Jihoon’s path - and he’s not a superstitious person but the only problem here is that there are approximately twenty, maybe even _thirty_ other cats in his living room. He can see why Max is terrified because the sight is one to behold.

 

The strangest thing about this entire set-up; the cats aren’t just doing nothing. They’re _cleaning_.

 

Two Siamese kittens have Jihoon’s dirty clothes in their mouths, and they merely blink at him when they stroll past him and dump his clothes into the laundry. Everytime Jihoon blinks his eyes, another two cats appear out of nowhere. It’s almost mesmerizing to see them work as if they were under some kind of spell.

 

Finally, Jihoon snaps back to reality. Putting Max safely down in the corner of the room, he shoos the cats away from his furniture - some of them jump out of his way, others pur against his bare leg, rubbing themselves against him.

 

“Get out,” Jihoon waves them away, frustrated when he finds even more cats the more he tries to chase them away.

 

How did they even get in here, anyway?

 

The open window in the living room is definitely suspicious but there is no where all the cats in the neighbourhood could have gotten a signal like werewolves and climb through the window to make Jihoon’s home their new headquarters, could they?

 

“I’m really sorry, but you’ll have to go too,” Jihoon finds his heart softening at a particular Persian, who has the softest fur but just won’t budge from its spot on Jihoon’s designer armchair. Gently, he directs all of the kittens out of his house and when it’s finally empty and Max stops whimpering, he realises just how much more of a mess his house has become.

 

There’s cat litter _everywhere,_ his furniture is loaded with small scratches and his heart aches because all his furniture had been custom ordered from his close friend’s acquaintance and he doesn’t think he’ll be able to afford any replacements.

 

With the cats out of the house and Max finally quiet, Jihoon can suddenly hear a faint melody coming from his bathroom, just down the hallway. It’s soft, but Jihoon is certain that he can hear the shower running as well.

 

He grabs the mop again, softly treading towards the source of the noise, poised and ready to strike.

 

It is one thing to bring all the cats in the neighbourhood into his home and have them dirty the place - but it is another to crank up Jihoon’s heater to the fullest; he’s sure his water bill will be affected this month too.

 

Turning the bathroom knob, Jihoon jabs the mop forward, not even caring whether he hits the perpetrator or not.

 

“Freeze!”

 

“Oh, _Prince-_ I mean, Jihoon! Good morning!”

 

A blonde, half-naked man, nicely covered by the towels that two other Orange Tabbies hold over his lower body, beams at Jihoon’s perplexed expression. This is the Prince from the nightmare last night-

 

“Oh, it wasn’t a dream,” Jihoon belatedly realises, heat rising in his cheeks when the Prince steps out of his shower, tying the towel around his waist and giving the kittens a chin rub before turning back to Jihoon, oblivious about the rollercoaster of emotions Jihoon is currently going through.

 

“I hope you do not mind me using your bath. It’s amazing, how does water come out of this thing?” Kang Daniel vaguely gestures to the showerhead that he does not have a proper name for.

 

“I… I don’t know. It just does.”

 

“ _Fantastic_ ,” Kang Daniel muses. “I must tell Prince Minhyun. Andalasia could use with a lot more of these magical baths.”

 

“Did you bring the cats into my house?” Jihoon glares at the two orange kittens who just blink their big eyes back at him, as if mocking him.

 

“Yes. I thought your house needed some spring cleaning. The filth was just appalling-”

 

“Stop,” Jihoon interrupts the blonde before he can start to ramble about something Jihoon doesn’t understand. “Who said you could do that? Wasn’t it enough for me to let you into my house? You had to bring in these cats and have them destroy my house?”

 

He’s fuming with rage, but apparently Kang Daniel doesn’t seem to feel the same way.

 

“ _Destroy_? No!” he protests strongly. “They only came here to clean and play. I made toys out of scrap paper for them to keep themselves busy with so they would keep clear of the other things in the house.”

 

Jihoon’s heart drops.

 

“Wait,” he feels his brain numbing as the seconds tick past. “What scrap paper?”

 

“The ones on the wooden desk,” Daniel replies, very matter of factly.

 

Jihoon rushes out of the bathroom, only to confirm his worst fears. The scripts that he’s been working on for weeks are now cleared off the table, a few pages torn off still remain on the table, unreadable and beyond salvation.

 

“Is there something wrong, Jihoon?” Daniel runs to catch up behind him.

 

“Wrong? _Wrong_ !” Jihoon shouts, and Daniel flinches. He really doesn’t mean to get angry first thing in the morning but the sight of weeks of hard work turned into mere _toys_ is really testing his patience.

 

“Oh no,” Daniel’s face falls. It is the first time Jihoon sees the man doing anything but smiling. “You’re upset.”

 

“Upset? That is a severe understatement, do you even understand what you’ve done to me? You’ve cost me hours and hours of hard work,” Jihoon snaps, the anger seething when he looks around his living room once again.

 

“Trust me, I never wanted to do you any harm,” Daniel reaches out to touch Jihoon, and Jihoon swats his arm away.

 

Tears pool in his eyes, and Jihoon doesn’t understand why he’s so affected.

 

“Please don’t cry-” Daniel seems very taken aback by the sudden change of situations.

 

“Just leave me alone!” Jihoon protests, shaking Daniel’s unrelenting grip off of his wrist. Only he’s underestimated his own power, trips and falls forward towards Daniel.

 

Daniel breaks his fall by landing backfirst on the couch, and Jihoon finds himself _millimeters_ away from the other man’s face. He’s breathing heavily, but he swears it’s because of the yelling and not because of how close both their lips are.

 

And from this angle, the Prince is quite… handsome. Maybe it’s because his hands are around Jihoon’s waist that his heart rate is starting to increase at a very unhealthy rate. And _oh_ , Jihoon realises that Kang Daniel is still half-naked.

 

“Jihoon?”

 

Amidst his internal dilemma of deciding whether to look at Kang Daniel in the eyes or his weirdly broad chest, Jihoon eyes meet one of those he is more familiar with. He swears he didn’t hear his front door unlocking because if he did, he definitely would not have welcomed his boyfriend by lying on top of _another man._

 

“Hyung…” his voice dies down halfway, mixed with anxiety and fear.

 

He’s clear what it looks like to Seongwoo except he knows it’s _not like that_.

 

Finally, the nerves in Jihoon’s limbs somehow connect to the one in his brain and he pushes himself off Daniel, almost sure that his cheeks are now fully red.

 

“I thought I’d come over to apologise but it looks like you’re already busy with something- no, _someone_ else,” Seongwoo huffs. If he weren’t a producer, Jihoon is sure Seongwoo would already be casted as a actor because that man could act. After knowing Seongwoo for such a long time, Jihoon knows how well he conceals hurt behind his eyes.

 

“Which is fine,” Seongwoo even manages a small smile. “I’ll just be here to grab the scripts you were working on and I’ll leave you to whatever else you were doing.”

 

“Hyung, come on,” Jihoon urges, a tinge of frustration in his voice because even though he knows that Seongwoo has all the rights to be angry he just wish the other man would stop and listen to him for once.

 

“Oh, you’re the knight from yesterday!”

 

“Not helping,” Jihoon mutters to Daniel under his breath as Seongwoo skillfully avoids Jihoon’s grip. “Please, put on a shirt or something.”

 

While leaving Daniel to fend for himself, Jihoon barges into his bedroom where Seongwoo is rummaging through his drawers, looking for something.

 

“Hyung, hands off,” he reprimands, momentarily forgetting that he is the one in the wrong here. Seongwoo’s appalled expression is enough to tell Jihoon how much he’s messed up this time. “I mean- _I’m sorry._ Can you please just stop and listen to me explain for just one minute?”

 

“Fine,” Seongwoo drops the things in his hands. “Tell me why you were lying on a naked man in the middle of your living room. I don’t recall you saying anything about bringing him home from last night. Then again… he looks like your type.”

 

“Seongwoo hyung, come on, you know I would never cheat on you. _Never_.”

 

“You know, funny thing I learnt in college. Don’t trust boys like you,” Seongwoo huffs. “I’ll just be getting my son and leave you to more important things. Max?”

 

“Excuse me, Max is _my_ dog!” Jihoon can’t believe he’s having this argument with Seongwoo right now when they have a hundred other things to resolve between the both of them.

 

“Give me the scripts, Jihoon. And then I’ll leave.”

 

Right. The scripts that were somehow made into cat toys by the Prince who has suddenly fallen silent in the corner of the room in one of Jihoon’s t-shirts although it looks two sizes small for him.

 

“About the scripts…” Jihoon trails off, suddenly very embarrassed. How is he supposed to explain the whole cat thing in the morning? “I don’t have them. I’m sorry. I’ll get them to you soon.”

 

He doesn’t know whether Seongwoo’s expression is one that of astonishment or just mere surprise. Seongwoo finally finds the will in him to close his gaping jaw, then shakes his head at Jihoon one last time before slamming the door on the way out.

 

Jihoon just collapses and buries his face into the sofa.

 

“Um… I am aware that you’re in great agony but do you have anything that could fit my size?”

 

♛

 

When a very annoyed looking Park Jihoon finally finds something that can fit Daniel’s size, he rejoices. Finding normal clothes for his shoulders is like finding a needle in a haystack - that is why he gets all his clothes altered by Guanlin and his friends.

 

Guanlin. He misses him a lot.

 

Even though this place called “Seoul” (as repeated by Jihoon many times over yesterday) is nice and the people have been somewhat welcoming of Daniel’s presence, he can’t help but feel like he doesn’t belong here.

 

He wonders if Prince Minhyun is looking for him, and if so, where exactly in this city he was right now. He wouldn’t give up on the wedding just because he couldn’t find Daniel, right?

 

Because Minhyun is his _one true lov-_

 

“Hey, Kang Daniel,” a voice snaps, breaking Daniel’s train of thoughts. Right now, Daniel has a few more things on hand to deal with rather than occupy himself with mindless worries about Prince Minhyun. One of the things being figuring out why the knight was so angry with Prince Jihoon earlier on this morning. He hopes it had nothing to do with the cats. They only wanted to help.

 

 _“I’m not a Prince,”_ Daniel can already hear Jihoon snapping back at him.

 

“So where do you live?” Jihoon asks, sitting down beside Daniel on this large armchair. Daniel likes it very much - he had a very good nap last night. “You know you can’t live in my house forever, right?”

 

Daniel shakes his head frantically at the shocking implication that he wants to overstay, “No, of course not. I have to find Prince Minhyun and get married to my one true love!”

 

“Okay… and where is this so-called Prince Minhyun of yours? What is his number? How does he look like?”

 

Daniel purses his lips together. He has no idea how to reach Prince Minhyun, much less anyone from Andalasia. He shrugs, “I don’t know. I guess Prince Minhyun is about this tall? And he has this gorgeous mop of brown hair. He’s brave, and charismatic and has the sweetest smi-”

 

“ _Huh_. Sounds like you really like this Prince Minhyun guy,” Jihoon hums in response and Daniel is glad that Jihoon had stopped him from rambling because he would have gone on long into the night.

 

Daniel beams, “Of course. He’s my one true love.”

 

When Jihoon doesn’t say anything to counter that, Daniel peers at the smaller man next to him, clearly in distress. Though he finds that Park Jihoon does not smile or laugh much, it somehow pains him to see the handsome man looking so down.

 

“Why are you so sad? Is it because of the fight with the knight earlier? If it was about the cats, then I apologise again. All I wanted to be was of some help-”

 

“It’s fine, Daniel,” Jihoon stops him. “It’s not your fault. I messed up.”

 

Even if Daniel does not exactly understand what _“messed up”_ means it can’t be something good, especially when Jihoon is looking so downcast. The knight must mean quite a lot to Jihoon. Maybe the knight is Jihoon’s Prince Minhyun. And Daniel thinks he understands Jihoon - to a certain extent.

 

“So… is _he_ your one true love?”

 

“Don’t be silly,” Jihoon laughs, but it somehow seems empty and forced. “There’s no such thing as a one true love.”

 

♛

 

“Yeah. I’ll be there,” Jihoon sighs, though he doesn’t want Sungwoon thinking that he doesn’t want to come into work. (Truth is, he doesn’t. Today was supposed to be his rest day away from the rush and stress of the production set.)

 

But if Sungwoon wants him to be there, Jihoon is in no position to reject him.

 

Beside him, he can already feel an eager, overgrown puppy pouting in his direction and waiting for him to end the conversation on the phone before peppering Jihoon with hundreds of questions.

 

And no, he’s not talking about Max who is peacefully sleeping in the corner after an eventful morning.

 

“We’ll have to go to the police station later,” Jihoon says to Daniel even though he’s not really listening after he ends the call with his director. He wishes he had the time go scream into the void but apparently there’s a problem on set that needs to be addressed immediately - and they need Jihoon’s help.

 

“ _Okay-_ But what do you mean by there not being such a thing as a one true love?”

 

“Seriously, Daniel, drop it,” Jihoon snaps. Ever since he’d let the cursed words slip out of his mouth moments ago, the Disney Prince would not let Jihoon live for even a minute. It was as if Kang Daniel couldn’t wrap his head around people not believing in the concept of love.

 

Jihoon goes to grab his coat, his wallet, his keys, and Daniel just follows behind him like a lapdog that needs serious affection - something that Max himself wouldn’t even do in a million years.

 

“Prince Minhyun is _my_ one true love, are you saying that what we have isn’t real?”

 

“I don’t care what you think of your Prince Minhyun,” Jihoon replies curtly, ignoring the hurt that arises on Daniel’s face. He doesn’t have time to deal with a sensitive Prince right now. “What I know is that I have to be at the set in half an hour and I’m not leaving you alone in my house just so that you can call the cats over again, so grab a coat.”

 

“Fine. We will go to this set you talk about. But as a representation of my feelings, I will not be talking to you on the way there.”

 

“That suits me just fine,” Jihoon replies just as crossly.

 

The car ride there is silent as the Prince keeps his promise. So Jihoon just puts on some soothing music and pretends not to notice that the Prince doesn’t even glance in his direction even once.

 

♛

 

“Oh God, Jihoon. You’re here,” Chungha, their head wardrobe designer, smiles as soon as Jihoon rushes into set. There’s no mistaking that she looks stressed, but is still forcing herself to remain positive in front of Jihoon. “Sungwoon’s been looking for you. Be careful, he’s pretty antsy today.”

 

“I gathered that from him demanding me to come down on my rest day,” Jihoon jokes, and is relieved when Chungha laughs along with him, visibly relaxing.

 

“Oh, a plus one?” she peers behind Jihoon’s shoulder, wearing a knowing smile when Daniel waves at her like the friendly boy he is. She waves an accusing finger at Jihoon, “Is Seongwoo okay with this?”

 

“He’s not a plus one!” Jihoon sputters, shocked that anyone would think that he would ever let Kang Daniel become his plus when when he’s so obviously dating the producer.

 

“I’m just kidding,” she pats his shoulder. “You should get going.”

 

She runs off again, shouting instructions to the rest of the crew as they start to pack up and get ready to move to the next location of the shoot. Jihoon wants to run off too, then remembers he’s somehow responsible for Daniel’s life now.

 

Daniel - who is peering curiously at a camera that one of the cameramen have left unattended. And if the same Daniel who had turned Jihoon’s precious scripts into toys for cats is careless enough, he could delete some very important footage.

 

“Let that go,” Jihoon hisses just before Daniel’s hands touch the buttons. Grabbing Daniel’s arms like he would to a young child. “Don’t touch anything, understand?”

 

He doesn’t wait for Daniel’s acknowledgement before pulling him into the next room where he can already see Sungwoon at a meeting table. He pushes Daniel into a nearby waiting room, instructing him, “Stay in here until I come get you.”

 

“Hyung,” he greets his director, who doesn’t even have the time to say hello back, just ushers Jihoon towards the new set.

 

“I’m glad you’re here,” Sungwoon replies shortly, and directs Jihoon to where all the actors and actresses are waiting. “The cast are saying that they don’t exactly understand the feelings they’re supposed to portray in this scene - I thought it would be better if you were here in person to supervise the filming with me.”

 

All irritations of coming onto set on his rest day are immediately erased when Jihoon sees how stressed out Sungwoon is. He pats Sungwoon’s shoulder encouragingly, assuring him that he’ll be right by his side.

 

“I’ll go talk to the actors and actresses, then,” Jihoon says, allowing Sungwoon to attend to his other things while he does his own job.

 

♛

 

“Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without you today,” Sungwoon sighs in relief when they’re about to start filming and he sinks into his director chair, with Jihoon also finally feeling like a huge burden has been lifted off his chest after having a nice chat with the cast and making sure they understand their next scenes.

 

“It’s nothing, hyung,” Jihoon brushes it off. “This is our production. A team effort.”

 

“Yeah,” Sungwoon nods with a small smile. “You and Seongwoo worked so hard on this. I wouldn’t want to completely destroy it, you know.”

 

Seongwoo. He should be here with them right now.

 

“Thinking about him?” Sungwoon nudges Jihoon playfully. “I called him down too, he should be here in about half an hour. You two lovebirds can talk then.”

 

Deep down, Jihoon knows he’s not ready to talk. This is exactly what he feared when he entered a relationship; having to communicate, having to compromise and having to worry about the other’s feelings. It’s all very tiring and terrifying to know that his actions could hurt Seongwoo; someone he doesn’t ever want to see sad.

 

“Alright, let’s go for our first take. Look alive, everyone!” Sungwoon calls out, taking charge immediately. Jihoon very much enjoys seeing Sungwoon work. It’s mesmerizing and inspiring because he doesn’t think he would ever be brave enough to rise up to that kind of responsibility.

 

“And action- _Hey_! Who’s that? Get off the set!”

 

Jihoon’s head whips immediately towards the direction all the people in the studio are looking at. He feels his heart sinking in dread when a familiar broad figure stares back at all the cameras like a deer in headlights.

 

Without any hesitation, Jihoon runs into the set and pulls Daniel out of view, shooting an embarrassed face to Sungwoon who does not look happy with this interruption at all. Thankfully, Sungwoon brushes it off and cues the crew and cast for their second take.

 

“You can’t do that,” Jihoon whispers harshly into Daniel’s ear, which is proving difficult because of their height difference so he has to physically pull Daniel down to his level. “They’re working. You shouldn’t disturb them by walking on set.”

 

“What are they working as?” Daniel tries to whisper back in the same soft voice but apparently the Prince has no tact, and neither does he know how to whisper.

 

“Watch and see for yourself,” Jihoon cocks his head towards the scene unfolding in front of their eyes. Somehow, he thinks that asking Daniel to watch would be a lot easier than trying to explain the profession, “acting”.

 

For a few moments, Daniel is dead silent. Jihoon gets to enjoy the newfound peacefulness, stripped of inquisitive and incessant questions. Until he feels Daniel slipping from his grip - and he can’t even find the will in himself to stop the man before he runs into the set once again towards the actors.

 

“Oh no, you’re crying,” Daniel coos at the crying actor. He tries to dry the actor’s tears with his shirt sleeve, until Sungwoon has to yell, “Cut!”

 

Jihoon just flinches and wishes he could die in a hole right now. That would be much, much easier than facing Sungwoon’s wrath later.

 

♛

 

“So it’s not real?”

 

“No, it’s not,” Jihoon repeats for the fifth time. He wonders what part of the world Kang Daniel comes from, for the other to be completely clueless about what acting is. After the horrific incident of Daniel halting the filming to actually console a crying actor, Jihoon has made him sit at the back to watch, ready to pull the boy back if he so as much moves his butt from his seat.

 

“But why is he so upset if it’s not real?” Daniel asks, obviously still not getting the whole concept.

 

Jihoon sighs, trying his best not to get frustrated at the Prince. He doesn’t even mean any harm, so Jihoon can’t yell at him or just ignore him. There’s something about Daniel’s innocence that makes this all okay.

 

“In that fake world,” Jihoon tries to explain very slowly. “The main characters are having a fight. The girl is trying to _break up- oh._ I mean, she doesn’t want to be with him anymore. So, he’s sad.”

 

Daniel ponders over this new information for about a minute, then turns to Jihoon with a knowing look on his face, “Is that what happened between you and that knight this morning?”

 

“Well. Seongwoo is not a knight, he is my boyfriend,” Jihoon smiles. Somehow, he’s not as mad at Seongwoo anymore when Daniel puts it in that way. “Yes, we had a small misunderstanding.”

 

“And are you sad about it?” Daniel probes. “Like the main character in that fake world?”

 

Is Jihoon sad? Yes, he guesses, since every time he thinks about Seongwoo now he can only feel the guilt eating him up from inside when he remembers the expression of betrayal Seongwoo had worn on his face this morning. He much prefers a smiling Seongwoo.

 

Jihoon hums softly, “I guess I am a little sad.”

 

He doesn’t know why he’s talking about feelings he never would talk about with anyone else. But maybe it’s because he knows that Daniel understands him in a different way - a way that makes Jihoon feel safe about sharing his deepest secrets with him.

 

♛

 

“Yes, you can now go onto the set.”

 

Daniel beams when Jihoon gives him permission, and bounds like a happy puppy in a dog park onto the set, inspecting the props used, but being very careful at the same time not to destroy anything.

 

“So, who is this guy?” Sungwoon comes up behind Jihoon when he’s least expecting it.

 

“He’s…” Jihoon trails off, not exactly knowing how to introduce this new face to his director. What’s he supposed to say - I knocked him down yesterday and he keeps claiming that he’s a Prince from this fantasy world called Andalasia so I have no choice but to take him with me?

 

“A friend,” Jihoon finishes. He thinks they could be friends - if only Daniel didn’t ask so many questions.

 

“Jihoon! This isn’t real?” Daniel commands attention to him as he holds up a fruit basket obviously filled with plastic but very realistic-looking apples. Daniel looks scandalized, as if he’s never come across fake apples.

 

“Put that down,” Jihoon just sighs, too tired to argue when Daniel moves on to inspect the next prop.

 

Sungwoon just squeezes his shoulder, “Friends can be tough, huh? Just makes sure he doesn’t break anything. Or intrude into another scene. Or try to resolve a fight in our next scene.”

 

Jihoon purses his lips, more embarrassed at Daniel's behaviour than anything.

 

From the corner of his eye, he sees someone he’s been wanting to talk to for the longest time. While he hesitates to approach Seongwoo, he also worries about Daniel - who is a walking disaster without Jihoon.

 

It’s his choice to make - and he finally manages to tear himself away from Daniel to go to Seongwoo, who spots him from a distance away and stiffens immediately. Jihoon gulps, his throat suddenly very dry and his heart thumping in his chest, drowning out shouts from Daniel in the background.

 

“Hey, hyung.”

 

“Jihoon,” Seongwoo acknowledges Jihoon’s presence with a curt nod.

 

Ouch, no _Jihoonie?_ Seongwoo must be really upset.

 

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

 

Though it may not seem like much, apologizing is one of the hardest things to do in Jihoon’s books. Make it about his ego or whatever, it’s just not easy admitting his own mistakes to other people.

 

Seongwoo’s eyebrow twitches in surprise.

 

“I swear upon Max that whatever happened this morning was strictly a misunderstanding. I know how it looks, and it’s not pretty. I would be mad too. I tripped and Daniel was just - _there_. I was yelling at him about how he brought 50 cats into my house to clean and-”

 

“Wait,” Seongwoo interrupts, “He what?”

 

“You heard me right the first time,” Jihoon rubs his temples in frustration. “He thinks he’s some Prince version of Snow White but I swear he summoned all the cats in the neighbourhood to clean up because apparently my apartment was too filthy for his liking.”

 

“It’s true,” Seongwoo laughs.

 

“Hey-” Jihoon scowls, then realises something. “You’re smiling.”

 

“How can I not? 50 cats in your apartment, and cleaning up for you? I’ve been waiting for this day to come, Jihoonie,” Seongwoo finally relaxes, eyes creasing into crescents when he laughs again.

 

Jihoon figures he can argue about his hygiene another time.

 

“I’m sorry, hyung,” Jihoon gives Seongwoo a small hug. He’s never been much of a fan of public affection unlike his boyfriend, but he thinks that Seongwoo does deserve a hug right now, at the very least. “Forgive me?”

 

“How can I not, you’re too cute for me to be-”

 

“Hey Jihoon, the actor told me that- _oh_. Um, hello, I appear to be interrupting something intimate between the two of you,” a blonde man that Jihoon has completely forgotten about appears around the corner, holding up the main actor’s script in his hands, smiling as if he’s acquired something precious.

 

Jihoon almost gags at the word intimate.

 

“Daniel, this is Seongwoo. And Seongwoo, this is Daniel,” he finally properly introduces the two.

 

“Pleased to meet you. Prince Daniel from Andalasia,” Daniel bows, reaching for Seongwoo’s hand and presses a kiss onto it, just as he did to Jihoon during their introduction.

 

Seongwoo shoots Jihoon a look, and he shoots one back that tells him not to say anything, and that he’ll explain everything in detail later.

 

“Jihoon was sad earlier,” Daniel says after his greeting. “After your fight. He said that he felt sad when you two were fighting.”

 

Seongwoo turns to Jihoon with a raised eyebrow, while the other boy turns red at Daniel’s sudden honesty.

 

“Y-You’re not supposed to say that!” Jihoon sputters at Daniel, who just looks very confused as to why he wouldn’t want his feelings being exposed to the entire world. The Prince just scratches the nape of his neck awkwardly.

 

Seongwoo clears his throat, though Jihoon knows the other man will most probably bring this topic up for the rest of his life just to embarrass the hell out of Jihoon.

 

“It was nice meeting you, Daniel,” Seongwoo says. “Please, give Jihoon all the trouble you can. He needs this to feel alive after writing an entire series worth of film.”

 

“Wait, Jihoon wrote-” Daniel stops himself, as if contemplating something very important. He addresses Jihoon as he holds up the script, “ _You_ wrote all those words? In _this_ book?”

 

“You didn’t tell him?” Seongwoo looks confused.

 

“It wasn’t important,” Jihoon shrugs.

 

“Sungwoon’s calling for me. I’ll catch up with you later, babe,” Seongwoo hurriedly ends the conversation and runs to their director’s aid, but not before pecking Jihoon’s cheek and making him turn red with embarrassment.

 

The important thing is that Daniel doesn’t seem the least affected by Seongwoo’s kiss. Instead, he looks troubled.

 

“How could you?” Daniel asks in bewilderment. “You say you don’t believe in true love! How can you write all these words but not believe in a single one of them?”

 

Frankly, Jihoon doesn’t see why this is such a big deal.

 

“Their story… it’s beautiful,” Daniel says, almost desperately trying to appeal to Jihoon. “It’s true love. And you are saying that you don’t believe in it?”

 

“No,” Jihoon crosses his arms, unhappy that Daniel is somehow questioning his work ethic. It has never crossed his mind; that he’s been writing love stories yet he doesn’t think that they exist in real life. “You’re right, I don’t believe in _real_ love stories. Everything that happens in this book is fake. That’s how I write.”

 

“You can’t just-” Daniel sputters, as if nothing Jihoon says is ever going to be a good enough explanation for this. Jihoon takes the script out of Daniel’s hands, hoping that it will put Daniel off of it. For some reason, true love is a big deal to Daniel, huge even.

 

“We can stay here and debate about whether true love exists or not. But my stomach is growling and I’d much rather we go get some food together. I know a place,” Jihoon suggests, eyeing Daniel for any tell-tale signs of temptations.

 

None.

 

The man just looks defeated.

 

“I guess I am quite hungry,” Daniel shrugs.

 

“Good,” Jihoon smiles, contented. “You’re in luck, because I’m picking the restaurant, and I’m paying. Any idea how many people would kill to be in your place right now?”

 

“How many?” Daniel’s frown is replaced by a curious grin.

 

“Hundreds, Danny Boy. Hundreds. Let’s go.”

 

♛

 

Daniel frowns at the servant who was preparing his food. It was sloppy, and the servant didn't seem too happy with what he was doing despite the bright colors in his uniform and the place declaring itself the “Jolliest Place on Earth!”.

 

He wonders what food would taste like this way - it obviously wasn't prepared with _love_.

 

"Do they not serve food to us at the table? I find this very rude."

 

"It's not a fancy restaurant," Jihoon explains in a low voice, careful not to offend the workers at his favorite fast food joint. "I don't really have the budget to feed you steaks and wine, your Majesty."

 

"You don't necessarily need to serve me _steak_ ," Daniel raises an eyebrow as the two of them stand side by side in front of the cashier. Daniel studies the curious glowing menu behind the servant preparing the food. "I'm fine with whatever your chefs specialize in."

 

"Well, this is all you're getting," Jihoon lifts up the tray that had been filled with their sustenance, and Daniel studies it curiously, a bit disappointed.

 

"Your chefs specialize in cooking _boxes_?"

 

♛

 

Daniel was relieved to find some sort of sandwich inside the box Jihoon places in front of him. And as much as it was improper to dog Jihoon about his hunger - he was really _very_ hungry now. He takes one look at the curious cylindrical sausage wedged between a halved loaf, drizzled in brightly colored sauces; and decides to take a bite.

 

"What is this? It's very good!" Daniel marvels at the burst of flavor on his tongue, enthusiastically wolfing down one more bite.

 

"A hotdog," Jihoon replies, taking a bite of his own sandwich.

 

Daniel's eyes widen, suddenly sick to his stomach at having eaten a canine companion in this strange land. Jihoon seems to register his shock, because the younger man drops his food to wave his hand around and quickly adds, "No, it's not really a dog - they just call it that."

 

Daniel finally finds the common sense to swallow, sighing in relief as he takes a big gulp of the fizzy drink Jihoon got him.

 

"Oh, thank goodness," Daniel exclaims.

 

"We really need to take you to a specialist," Jihoon comments, continuing to eat. "I mean first, I thought you were just drunk, but you should have sobered up by now. Seongwoo hyung should know a guy."

 

"Seongwoo hyung…" Daniel tries to recall. "Your knight?"

 

"He's not a knight, he's my _boyfriend_ ," Jihoon replies, and he sounds almost reluctant to call the older man that. Daniel cocks an eyebrow in confusion.

 

"Well, I too, have friends who are boys - but you seem exceptionally close."

 

"Yeah, well," Jihoon takes a sip of his drink. "We've been friends since forever. And we love working on the same things, we have the same goals," Jihoon thinks for a bit and his voice drops to a mumble, "Or so I thought…"

 

Daniel nods, listening intently.

 

"And it just made sense to start dating because he didn't have anyone, I didn't have anyone, and it's just convenient for everybody. So yeah, he's my boyfriend now." Jihoon ends his lackluster explanation, and usually this is the part where his friends _boo_ at him for the extremely boring meet cute story. But apparently the Disney prince he was with saw this through a completely different point of view.

 

"So he's your one true love!" Daniel exclaims, cheerfully clapping his hands. "The one you will marry and live happily ever after with!"

 

Jihoon chokes on his fries.

 

"Brakes on, Danny. In this world - we don't talk about _marriage_ like it's going to happen tomorrow," Jihoon wipes his mouth with a napkin. "We're just, you know, trying it out. See where it goes."

 

"And why not just decide to spend the rest of your life with him? Surely you love him?"

 

Jihoon looks like he was deep in thought, chewing on his bottom lip.

 

"I do love him, but I'm not yet sure if it will lead to wedding bells." Daniel is puzzled by the answer. "I mean, I love him as a best friend, he's fantastic - I always want to see that smile on his face and I can't bear it when he gets hurt. But ever since we started dating, it's become a completely different relationship… and I end up making him sad more than usual."

 

"You are making it sound like you just want to be friends with him," Daniel notes simply - and Jihoon hates how bluntly the older boy had put it. "Like me and Guanlin. I would _never_ marry Guanlin."

 

"Well, you haven't tried dating other people, who knows maybe this Guanlin person-"

 

"Chick."

 

"-this Guanlin _chick_ is your one true love."

 

Daniel couldn't hide the shock on his face at that. He had never thought of anyone else being his _one true love_. It had always been Prince Minhyun.

 

Well, it had always been Prince Minhyun since two days ago.

 

"What is this _dating_ you keep talking about?" Daniel asks, genuinely interested.

 

Jihoon seems to think for a while as he continued chewing his _hotdog_.

 

"It's when two people try to get to know each other," Jihoon explains, _it's like dealing with a three-year old_. "You try to spend some time with them and figure out if you want to spend the rest of your life with them."

 

"Oh, then I dated Prince Minhyun when we met each other at the betrothal ball the other day," Daniel nods along. "We dated for an entire dinner and it was magical."

 

He lets out a dreamy sigh as he looks at his almost-finished _hotdog_. "And now we're going to be married."

 

Jihoon laughs. "Dating usually takes much longer than that before it leads to a wedding," Jihoon picks at his fries. "You take them out for meals, go to the movies, take them dancing, stay at each other's houses, wear each other's clothes, keep talking to them so you really get to know them…the usual stuff."

 

Daniel is oddly silent after that and Jihoon raises his eyes to meet a bewildered expression on that handsome face. He's got a drop of mustard hanging on his lips - but Jihoon thinks it just adds to the charm of _gorgeous delusional idiot._

 

"What's wrong?"

 

"So we're eating together," Daniel starts, enunciating his words carefully.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"You let me borrow your clothes."

 

"They look ill-fitting on you, by the way."

 

"And we're getting to know each other."

 

"I guess?"

 

Daniel gasps and holds up a hand to his mouth.

 

"Oh dear, we're _dating_!" Daniel says in a voice that practically announced it to the entire room.

 

It was Jihoon's turn to have his eyes blown wild, choking for the second time in just one lunch break. Several heads at the restaurant were already turned, giving them weird looks (some of them encouraging, some of them just plain annoyed).

 

"No, we're not!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> parts 2 and 3 will be uploaded soon!
> 
> if you've enjoyed the first part do leave us some comments :)
> 
> \- tori & chul


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